Xbox One X vs. PS4: Is the Xbox One X Worth It?

Is The Xbox One X Worth It If You Own a PS4?

Xbox One X vs. PS4

The Xbox One X is here, and gamers are going to have to make an unusual choice that they don’t normally have to make. They’ll have to decide if they want to pick up a true new mid-gen console or not. The PS4 Pro came out last year with some impressive specs of its own, but the Xbox One X is truly as powerful as advertised. If you want the most powerful home console currently on the market capable of making games look as good as they possibly can (PC excluded of course), then you’re going to need to pony up the $500 for the Xbox One X.

That said, if you already own a home console, in this case the PlayStation 4, is it really worth the $500 to upgrade to the Xbox One X? Cost is relative and it’s going to depend if you can afford it or not. If money is no object, then sure, grab the Xbox One X too. It’s a great console and if you can afford whatever you want, then why not? Disregard anything we’re going to say in this article. But in the likely event that you’re someone who’s on the fence and wants to be careful with their money, this guide is for you.

We’ll break down the biggest and most relevant differences between the two consoles and then give a verdict on whether or not the Xbox One X is still worth getting if you already own a PS4.

Performance

The Xbox One X does have an edge on the original PlayStation 4. Even the PS4 Pro, while it gets closer, does fall short of the impressive specifications of the Xbox One which you can read about above. The Xbox One X is capable of running in true 4K with 60 FPS, something the original PlayStation 4 just cannot do. Even without a 4K set, the Xbox One X will improve the performance of the console over the original Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. Load times will be improved, the picture will be higher quality (on 1080p TV sets) and the framerate will be better.

Not every game will be “Xbox One Enhanced,” but the ones that are will look noticeably better than the same game would look on the PlayStation 4, provided you have the correct TV set. If the best possible picture is important to you, then switching and upgrading is worth considering.

Online Play and Unique Features

Xbox One X vs. PS4

Both the PS4 and Xbox One have a wealth of features unique to their platform (games excluded, which we’ll get to separately below), that anyone considering either, or both, should factor into their decision making.

PlayStation has PlayStation Plus, which regularly offers up free games for the PlayStation 4, PS Vita, PSVR and the PS3 too if that’s something you’re still playing. If you own multiple consoles in the PlayStation family, you’re definitely getting a solid bang for your buck. There’s also the Community pages where people can join groups consisting of other like-minded gamers to talk or play games with one another.

The PS4 also has one of the easiest to use live streaming and video capture features thanks to the Share button. The Share button makes it very simple to take screenshots, capture videos of your gameplay, or to start streaming right to Twitch. Also, if you have a PS Vita, there’s the extra perk of being able to stream your PS4 to your PS Vita using the internet via remote play which is a very handy feature indeed. Finally, the PlayStation has a very clean and simple to use UI which will appeal to those that don’t care about anything other than getting in and out of their games and apps as quickly as humanely possible.

The Xbox One X has similar competing features, but with their own spin. Games with Gold depending on the month is better, worse, or equal to PlayStation Plus. It all comes down to personal preference on the rotating games. However, Xbox One X does have the Xbox Game Pass, which by most accounts is a superior service to PlayStation Now. Everything is subjective based on your preference with the games of course, but the Game Pass has the huge advantage of being able to download the games rather than having to stream them and is also half the price.

The Xbox One X new UI is considerably more cumbersome to navigate and record/share pictures when compared to the simplicity of just using the Share button and clicking around the PS4’s minimal UI. That said, the Xbox One UI does a better job of actually connecting players. Clubs and LFG are better integrated into the UI of Xbox One rather than being hidden away for the most part on the PS4, and are more fleshed out with more features. If sharing and accessing content with your friends is something you care about, or you don’t have many friends that play with you and want to make new ones, the Xbox One does a better job at least of facilitating that than the PS4.

Games

Xbox One X vs. PS4

Now here is where things get dicey. The PS4 and Xbox One X have a ton of overlap when it comes to third-party games, but quite a large difference in console exclusives. The PS4, regardless of whether you have the PS4 and the PS4 Pro, has received more console exclusives to date than the Xbox One, and this trend appears to be likely to continue into the near future. It’s not that the Xbox One doesn’t have any, they do, and generally they are very well received. However, in terms of pure numbers both past, present, and future, the PS4 definitely has an edge here. It comes down to your personal preference though. If you like the Xbox One exclusives game better and aren’t interested in the PS4’s exclusives, than the amount of exclusives is kind of irrelevant.

One area where the Xbox One X does trump the PS4 when it comes to games is backwards compatibility. As of right now, there’s a handful of PlayStation 2 classics able to be purchased, along with the PlayStation Now catalog of games that can be streamed, but that’s pretty much it. You can’t pop a PS3 disc into your PlayStation 4 and start playing. Not only can the Xbox One X do that for a large number of games, but it also enhances it, allowing it run better than did it on the Xbox 360 and original Xbox. It’s not going to make it feel like a remaster, but it’s better than no upgrade at all.

The Verdict: Should You Buy an Xbox One X if You Already Own a PS4?

The Xbox One X is no question, an upgrade over the original PS4. Although similar, the two platforms are different enough to make it worth it to own both. If you don’t own either yet, that’s a different conversation entirely, and you can check out our full review to get a better sense of which direction you should go in.

So on a very basic level, yes, the Xbox One X is worth getting if you already own a PS4. If you’re going to upgrade to a 4K console, you might as well grab the Xbox One X so you can expand your library of games and features and hang onto your PS4. 

Consider these more specific questions and scenarios as well though:

Do you really care about playing Xbox One exclusives? – If not, then reconsider how important having true 4K and 60 FPS is to you. If really love your PS4 and don’t need any other console, you could get a PS4 Pro pretty cheap if you’re willing to trade in your PS4 toward it and get a similar enhanced experience. If 4K and 60 FPS means nothing to you, $500 could get you a Switch and a couple of games like Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild.

Is your number #1 factor when buying a console for it to be as best-looking as possible? – If not, and Xbox One exclusives don’t really do anything for you, consider grabbing something like the Switch if your money is burning a hole in your pocket.

Do you mostly just care about playing your Xbox 360 games again without having to hook it back up to your TV? – If the answer is yes, grab the Xbox One S instead. You’ll still have backwards compatibility and access to Xbox Game Pass which has lots of quality 360 games on there as well plus all of the same Xbox One exclusives and features.

Are you really into PC gaming? – You can probably get away with just having a PS4 and a PC if you have a powerful rig. If you want to add something else on, grab a Nintendo Switch instead to have the widest library possible. You’d only be missing out on a few games that can only be played on the Xbox One/X.

Do you struggle finding people to play with and want robust community features to help? – The Xbox One consoles do a better job of this than the PS4, but again, you can get away with just getting a Xbox One S instead. Don’t trade a PS4 in though just for that though, just add on an Xbox One if you can.